Workshop Marine and Coastal Resources: Risks and Law

Monday, October 6th

1. Exploitation of submarine gas hydrates: Pros and Cons

Abstract

Gas hydrates are regarded
as potential fossil fuels and today several nations including Japan and Korea, which do
not possess fossil fuels such as oil or coal, are developing methods for the
future exploitation of gas hydrates. However, a major part of marine gas
hydrates are located at larger water depth and, therefore, the cost-benefit
ratio of their exploitation might not be too favorable. Furthermore,
utilization of gas hydrates may increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere and cause slope failure at continental margins and subsequent
coastal tsunamis. The injection of CO2 as a replacement for methane into gas
hydrate layers may be one way out of the dilemma. The question is who can be
held responsible (or being prevented from) the theoretical consequences of gas
hydrate exploitation? Most of the gas hydrate reservoirs are located within
national 200 mile zones – is it a national or an international responsibility?
And who owns gas hydrates that are outside the national borders? What about the
Arctic Ocean where melting sea ice uncovers
more and more sea floor?

Tuesday, October 7th

2. Human impact on coastal systems – how far can we go?

Abstract

Many coasts worldwide are
highly dynamic systems, which sensitively react on hazards form storms, tides,
tsunamis and a rising sea-level. Enforced by human induced climate change,
these hazards are expected to increase in future. They will have severe
implications for the world’s coasts and hence can endanger coastal populations
and infrastructure, as well as threatening many coastal ecosystems. These
implications are exacerbated by the constant increase of people, living in the
coastal zone as well as the growing demand on coastal resources. Beyond the
assessment of the coastal population, resources and risks, questions arise
regarding the response of the society to these topics. Lost land, damages in
resources and infrastructure, compensation, protection and adaptation are
important issues that need to be addressed.

3. Transaction costs of fisheries policy

Abstract

Many instruments of
fisheries policy have been proposed (total allowable catch, gear restrictions,
restrictions on the number of fishing days, subsidies on vessels, buyback
subsidies, landing fees, individual tradable quotas, marine protected areas,
temporary closures, and several more). Many of these instruments have been
implemented in practice, with mixed success. One important question that has frequently
been neglected in theory is how the different instruments compare with regard
to their transaction costs. On the authority´s side, transaction costs include the
effort needed for monitoring and enforcing compliance, and the costs involved
in determining the right target levels of quotas, fees, sizes and location of
marine protected areas. On the fishermen´s side, transaction costs include the
costs of obtaining the licenses required, or reporting catches and effort. Against
this background, the session will, inter alia, address the following questions:
What are the overall transaction costs of different instruments? How do the
benefits of different instruments compare to the transaction costs involved? Is
there a general ranking of instruments?